/r<^^ 



-**-' 



I 



SPEECH 



F 685 
.H64 
Copy 1 



OF 



HON. JOSHUA HILL, OF GEORGLi, 



ON 



THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS; 



DELIVERED 



iN TtIS HOUSE OF REPR KSENT ATI VlgS, M ARC II 29, 1S58. 



WASHIxNGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
1858. 



i-- :.^- 



SPEECH. 



Tlie (louse b<;ing in ihc ComriiiUKe of tlie Whole on the 
• fate of tlic Union — 

Mr. HILL said: 

Mr. Chairman': I congratulate you, sir, tliat 
after tliis protracted discussion, we find you to- 
day still able to occupy your seat; for, from the 
long and wearisome task which has devolved upon 
you, one migiu well suppose-th:it you would be 
found in the condition of the afflicted man of Uz, 
" broken in pieces with ivo7-ds." Could there be 
such a thing as a Representative without a con- 
stituency, I should notontliis occasion utter one 
single remark. But, sir, it is in deference to the 
high-spirited and intelligent people I leave be- 
JKiid, and whose Representative I am, that I es- 
say upon this occasion to make known the feel- 
ings and sentiments which will govern me in the 
course I shall take in regard to the matter now 
under consideration. 

Jt is not inappropriate that in th.e beginning I 
sTiould say, that, in kind and familiar conversa- 
tions I have held with gentlemen of various shades 
of political opinion — and I am happy to say I 
know no enemies, personally, among those who 
occupy this floor — I have been asked to forbear the 
expression of my peculiar views upon this floor, 
lest perchance I might say something that might 
wound friends of this party or of that. I hope 
that I have as kind a nature as becomes any man; 
but I have found, in sui;h cases, that it is safestfor 
a man to be his own judge of thecourse properfor 
him to pursue; and so I have determined, irre- 
spective of the advice given me, to go my own 
way. I am like the Frenchman, who consulted 
his wife as to the mode of building his house, 
atid when, after hearing his plans, she agreed that 
ihey were most admirable, he said, " well, mad- 
ame, it is very well that you think so, for it is all 
■Jie same; the house would have been built that 
way any how." 

I do not propose to address myself exclusively, 
by any means, to the immediate subject under 



consideration. I propose to take .t somewhat 
wider range. I am in the habit of doing so. L 
am in the habit, I may say, of inveighing against 
that spirit which pervades the American natioii, 
and which is so hurtful, in my judgment, to its 
prosperity and well-being. I speak it in no un- 
kindness of spirit to those who are now in power, 
or to those who will, in all human probability, 
succeed them. But the evil of the day is, in n'ly 
judgment, the partisan spirit that pervades the 
land — the spirit that tolerates nothing of manly 
independence in thought, or action, but requires 
blind obedience to the dictates, and behests of 
party. Sir, dear to me as arc the fortunes of the; 
organization to which I belong, and devoted as I 
am to them, if it should ever assume the control 
of this Government, (which, 1 confess, looks ju 
this time like a very remote jiossibility,) and 
should presume to dictate rules of thought and 
action to me, I would leave the organization, and 
if I could not find one agreeable to associate with 
thereafter 1 would stand aloof, though 1 sliould 
stand by myself. 

For the few thoughts v;hich I may utter on this 
occasion — for they will be few — I beg the indul- 
gence of the House. 1 had prepared something 
in a wluilly different vein from that in which I 
now propose to speak, but I have yielded it up to 
my own better judgment. If my thoughts suit, 
not others 1 can only sa/ in the spirit of the re- 
mark of the renowned Bacon: "So I think: let 
those who can, think more wisely." 

Mr. Chairman, the year 1854, a yearever mem- 
orable and renowned in the annals of this nation 
by the extraordinary events that marked its pas- 
sage, dawned on the American people as peace- 
fully, as haj^pily, and as benignly, as any one that 
had marked our brief but blessed career as a na- 
tion. The disappointments and r.cerbities grow- 
ing out of the then recent presidential election had 
subsided in the country. Under the influence of 
the legislation of 1850 — known as the compromise 
measures of that year — and of the wise and con- 



servative Administration ofliim who justly earned 
the proud title of the " Model President," the 
country was marching on witliout a single obsta- 
cle in its career of progress and glory. 

Sir, I have been accustomed to think that, in 
an evil hour, (I trust it may yet prove otherwise, 
for I fain would that good should comeof it,) for 
bome purpose as yet, perhaps, unavowed, and 
certainly by me not wholly understood, it became 
H matter of Democratic policy to inaugurate terri- 
torial governments for those immense wilds and 
wastes, solitudes of prairie and forest, known as 
Nebraska and Kansas. I never could perceive 
the pressing necessity of these measures at the 
time. The highest estimate that was made by 
any speaker on the occasion was, that in all those 
vast Territories there were not over nine hun- 
•ired white souls, consisting, as they did, of hunt- 
ers, trappers, and traders, with very few women 
and children among them. 11^ I were di.sposed to 
be invidious, I might conjecture that the motive 
for the organization of those Territories was to 
<arve out offices for dependants and expectants. 
] do not know that there was any such design, 
and therefore I make no such imputation. 

But, if it had stopped there, altliough 1 think it 
was a premature act, the country would not have 
complained. It was not a very grave error, if 
error it was. Eut the momentous part of the 
matter was this: that in this act of legislation the 
Democratic party adopted the suggestion of a then 
political opponent — Mr. Dixon, of Kentucky — to 
repeal a measure which had stood on the statute- 
book for thirty years; which had received the 
sanction of a slaveholding President and of a 
Cabinet second in intelligence and worth to none 
that ever graced the Federal city. It had existed 
through successive Administrations, including 
that of the hero of the Hermitage — devoted as he 
was, heart and soul, in every pulsation, to the 
interests of the South. And during all that time 
no man had come forward and asked for its repeal . 

Sir, it is a matter of history that at the time 
the proposition was made,the Washington Union, 
then conducted by a politician of signal ability, 
rame out in an editorial the very next day, and 
denounced the proposition as a Whig trick, de- 
signed to divide and distract the Democratic 
party. The more cautious and distinguished 
• •hairman of the Senate's Committee on Territo- 
ries, who had reported those bills, did not follow 
the lead of the organ of the parly. lie, like a 
prudent geneialissimo, took time to reflect upon 
the proposition. Ay, sir, he slept upon it; and 
when his strong and vigorous intellect came to 
a conclusion, he rose, like a strong man, from 
his slumbers, resolved that he would do the deed 
or perish in attempting to execute it. The sug- 
gestion was incorporated into those me«isures, 
and became part and parcel of them, and impar- 
tial history must ever record that wliatevcr of 
glory, of renown, or of shame, may attach to 
the transaction, the name of the distinguished 
Senator from Illinois must stand out in the front 
rank, towering above all others, as its advocate 
and defender. There he stands yet; and no mat- 
ter how he may be contemned and derided to- 



day, he is regarded as the father of thia great 
measure, and liistory will so record him. 

Eut there was another who had been thought 
worthy, at one time, to bear the standard of the 
Democratic party to battle — a veteran in politics, 
and a statesman who stood deservedly high. 1 
allude, sir, to General Cass, who, on the 2i)lh of 
February, 1854, in the Senate of the United States, 
gave utterance, in a carefully prepared speech, to 
the expression of doubts anil misgivings as to the 
wisdom and propriety of this act. The distin- 
guished Senator said: 

" Mr. Prcsi<lent, 1 have not witliliehi the expression of 
my regret elsowln-re, nor shall 1 witlUiolil it heri;, that thi.s 
q\ii!Stion of repeal of the Missouri coinpromiai!, wliich opens 
all the disputed points connected with the subject of con- 
gressional action upon slavery in the Territories of the Uni- 
ted States, has been brought before us. ( do not think the 
practical advantages to result from the measure will out- 
weigh the injury which the ill-feeling, fated to accompany 
the discussion of this subject through the country, is sure to 
produce. And I was corifirnied in this impression from what 
was said by the Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. Jones,] by 
the Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. 1»i.\on.] and from North 
Carolina, [Mr. B aiioer.] and also by the remarks which fell 
from the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. Hunter,] and in 
vviiich I fully concur, tliat the South w'ill never receive any 
benefit from this measure, so far as respects the extension 
of slavery; for, legislate a.s we may, no human power can 
establish it in the regions defined by these bills. And such 
were the sentiments of two eminent patriots, to whose ex- 
ertions we are greatly indebted forthe satisfactory termina- 
tion of the difficulties of 1851), and who since passed from 
their labors, and, I trust, to their reward. Tbufi believing, 
I should have been better content had the whole sulijecl 
been left as it was by the bill when first introduced by the 
Senator from I lllnoi.s, without any provisicm regarding tlic 
Missouri eoniproniise. I am aware that it was reported that 
I intended to propo.se the repeal of that measure, but it was 
an error. My intentions were wholly misunderstood. I had 
no design whatever to take such a step, and thus resuscitate 
a deed of conciliation which had done its work, <ind done it 
well, and which was hallowed by patriotism, by success, 
and by its association with great names, now transferred to 
history. It belonged to a past generation ; and in the midst 
of a political tempest which appalled the wisest and firmest 
in the land, it had .said to the waves of agitation, Peace, he 
still, and tlicy became still. It would have been better, in 
my opinion, iiot to disturb its slumber, as all useful and prac- 
tical objects could have been attaineil without it. But the 
question is here without my agency." 

Thus, sir, discoursed General Cass. But in 
the same spirit to which I have alluded, he after- 
wards overcame his convictions of the impro- 
priety of this repeal, and gave his vote for it. 

Mr. Chairman, let it not be understood, from 
what I may say here in relation to the repeal of 
the Missouri compromise, that I was ever its 
eulogi.^t or its advocate; for however vain and 
presum[ituous it might appear in me to dissent 
from its great authors and advocates, I must say 
in truth, from the convictions of my best judg- 
ment, that the measure was extra-constitutional. 
So believing, had 1 been acting at the time of i;s 
adoption, I do not scruple to say that I would 
have seen the union of these States further imper- 
iled than I believe it was in 1820, before I would 
have voted for it. It is said to have saved the 
Union. Certainly,if it deserved to havethissaid 
of it, it was a rare merit indeed; for I take it upon 
myself to say, (perilous, jierhaps, as the expres- 
sion may be to-d;iy,) that if this Union could be 
restored to the purity with which it .sprang front 
the fires of the Revolution, there is scarcely any 



sacrifice upon earth that I could make myself that 
I would not freely sufl'erforits preservation. But, 
sir, the Union of to-day, I greatly fear, is not the 
Union of seventy years ago. I know that we all 
profess the same degree of attachment for it that 
the men who framed it professed,; but every man 
has his own way, in these degenerate days of lov- 
ing the Union. 

The extreme man of the South demands every 
concession to his requirements, and that there shall 
he no denial of the smallest right that he may have 
in the institution to which he is so fondly devoted ; 
and not only this, but he insists that those who 
intrude their opinions and intermeddle with sla- 
very, even by distussion among themselves, are 
inimical to the Union, and unworthy of his associ- 
ation. On the other hand, wehcarotliergentlemen 
say, we are attached to the Union; we are brothers, 
u'l.- wish to preserve the Union ! We say that we 
will never consent, however, that the hated insti- 
tution of slavery shall go one inch further upon 
American soil. Now, sir, this is a novel mode of 
showing affection for the Union ! Perhaps at the 
same time they will disclaim that they have any 
disign or desire to interfere with slavery in the 
States, or with the inter-slave trade. Tliisis held 
as highly commendable, as great magnanimity and 
generosity ! This is not my mode of estimating 
the duties of citizens to the Union, and it is not 
one of the reasons for my attachment to it. I go 
to the charter of our liberties; I go to the Consti- 
tution, and refer to the men who framed that in- 
strument, and to the motives which actuated them 
at that time. Without arrogating to myself to be 
purer and better in heart, or superior to others in 
love for the Union and in tried patriotism, I say 
that I will stand by that charter; so long as I am 
aide to interpret it, I will claim, as a southern 
man, all of my rights and my equality in the 
Union, and I will be content with nothing less. 
At the same time, I will not say to the North, in 
angry tone and defiant language, " come on and 
wrest these rights from us, if you dare !" I will not 
speak of bloody fields and desolated homes; such 
language, in my judgment, will never convince 
the understanding of any man — certainly not that 
of a fanatic. It is not tlie language of a brother; 
and, so long as we live in this Union, we are 
brothers. 

I will return, Mr. Chairman, to the repeal of 
llie Missouri compromise. When the deed was 
done, when the blow was struck, and when the 
compromise of 1820 slept with its fathers, there 
arose throughout the land a mighty clamor, and 
a wail went up, long, loud, and frantic; and, 1 am 
sorry to say, it came from those that loved the 
luot one far better in death than in the pride of 
" lusty life." Beside its bier, bedev/ed with some 
tears of honest, manly sorrow, there stood as 
chief mourners the Abolitionist and the Free- 
Soiliu-; they came to perform the last sad offices 
for this legislative victim. Why, sir, Mark An- 
tony, in the depth of his pathos over the " piece 
of bleeding earth" that lay before him, the 
'• Ruins of llie iiolilcst man 
That ever lived in the tide of tinies;" 

was not more eloquent in his sorrow than were 



these disconsolates. Might not some Democratic 
Brutus, witnessing the ailecting scene, have pro- 
phetically exclaimed: " Here comes its body, 
mourned by the Abolitionist and Free-Soiler, who, 
though they had no hand in its death, shall receive 
the benefit of its dying — a place in the Common- 
wealth — as which of you shall not.'" 

Was it true that, up to the time of its lamented 
death, these worthies had sought to preserve this 
cherished object of their peculiar regard.' Let 
the history of their afi'ectioiiate solicitude give 
the answer. Yet their lamentations were as pa- 
thetic and heart-rending as were those of Rachel 
mourning for her children, refusing to be com- 
forted because the Missouri compromise " was 
not." I thought, as General Cass thought, that 
if the country could reasonably have been ex- 
pected to acquiesce in the measure of repeal, it 
would have been patriotic and proper. No evil 
could then have sprung from it. I knew that, 
surrounded by fanatical influences, there were 
men of milder mood, not fitted by nature to grap- 
ple with sterner spirits, who, when this hue-and- 
cry was raised, mustered in crowds and came to 
the rescue, and placed themselves under the ban- 
ner of the anti-slavery party. When it is said 
to me that [ am over-cautious in a measure that 
is abstractly right, and when I ought not to have 
desired anything more than its passage, I reply, 
that if these fanatical cries be music in the ears 
of some men, they grate harshly upon mine. 
They please me not. I coiild not laugh such 
things to scorn. I looked alone to the dreaded 
consequences to my country. It has been writ- 
ten that Nero, the tyrant, fiddled when Rome 
was burning; but the historian has not told us 
that the conflagration was the less destructive. 
So it is here. Making this reply, they may say 
that the measure, if not absolutely necessary, was 
one that was an act of justice to the South, under 
the Constitution, which was violated when the 
Missouri compromise was passed. Conceding 
this to be true, it seems to vne that if there was 
no practical advantage in the thing, it was a most 
unnecessary hazard to the institutions of the 
country. 

It occurs to me, in connection with this sub- 
ject, to advert to the action of the distinguished 
gentleman fiom Virginia [Mr. Mii.lson] who 
took a view of this subject which nearly coincided 
with my own at the time. I have not lost sight 
of him, but have regarded him with interest ever 
since. He was denounced in the South as being 
untrue to the section he represented, because he 
dared to vote against the passage of the Kansas- 
Nebra.ska bill. His intelligent constituency — 
among the most intelligent, 1 believe, in the State 
of Virginia — have returned him again and again, 
and thus vindicated the patriotism of his course. 
Certainly it will not be expected of me that I shall 
stand upon this floor as a panegyrist of the dis- 
tinguished Senator from Illinoi.'i!; but I am apt 
to think that lie whom 1 have so often and so re- 
cently heard, in my own State, and in my own 
district, extolled as " a Saul in Israel, towering 
above the political hosts, "is the same to-day that 
he was in 1854. Men — and 1 thank God it is so 



6 



— are not like chameleons; certainly fjrcat men are 
not — and 1 class in that category the distinguished 
statesman from Illinois, because his own party 
stamped him with that seal, and they cannottake 
it away from him. He is intellectually to-day, as 
he lias been heretofore, worthy of llie sobriquet 
which has been applied to him, " the Little 
Giant." Is he less honest now than he was in 
1854? Why should it be said so? Is any man 
more honest, more sincere, than he was in 1854? 
And this explains the question which I put to the 
distinguished gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. 
Smith,] the other day: docs the fact that a gen- 
tleinan who disapproved of the legislation of 1854 
and now approves of the admission of Kansas 
under the Lecompton constitution, make him a 
better Democrat than he who devoted lifi^', soul, 
and every esiergy he possessed, to the adoption 
of that measure ? Well, this is all of a piece with 
that sort of jrenurosity to which I have adverted. 

Sir, onc(! tor all, 1 denounce the nroscriptive 
policy whi<;h would bow down and crush out 
the liighest intellects at the mere bidding of the 
parasites and panderers who bask in the sunshine 
of power. There was a better day in the Repub- 
lic — the day of " the era of good feeling," as it 
has been termed — when even Cabinet officers, the 
constitutional advisers of the Executive, could 
disagree upon great and important questions of 
State, and were still esteemed worthy to sit to- 
gether at the council board. At the time of Pres- 
ident Madison's administration of the Govern- 
ment there were some of his Cabinet opposed to 
the great measure of his Administration, the Bank 
of ine United States, then a question paramount 
to all others. The Executive did not exact a blind 
obedience to his own peculiar views. The policy 
which docs so, has been inaugurated in later but 
certainly not better days. 

This spirit has extended itself, and I find in the 
Government organ in this city, only two days 
ago, a tirade poured out upon the heads of two 
venerable and distinguished men, of ripe experi- 
ence, and whose oft-exhibited firmness and in- 
tegrity of character, united with a rare knowl- 
edge and intelligence, entitle them to rank as 
statesmen. I allude, of course, to the vitupera- 
tive attackwhich the Washington Union has seen 
fit to make upon Senators Crittkn'den and Bell. 
Though I dissent from the conclusions of those 
distinguished gentlemen, I should be wanting in 
truth and sincerity if I did not say that I know, 
from my intercourse with them, that their present 
cour.se is one dictated by the same love of coun- 
try, and devotion to the pacification of the land, 
which has hitherto marked their long and dis- 
tinguished career. Rut, sir, we have at last come 
to tiiis, that Douglas and Bf.ll and CnirxENDEN 
and a host of others, who have been, hitherto, 
considered worthy and patriotic, if they make but 
one false step, come to one false conclusion, all 
their good deeds fora lifetime are to be canceled, 
and to go for nought. Is this just, is it proper? 
Where will it lead to? Does it not lead to the 
abject submission of the human intellect, or ruth- 
less proscription? That is not my mode of car- 
rying a measure. If it cannot be carried without 



bitterly denouncing as wanting in integrity and 
patriotism those who may differ with me, I would 
rather it should fail. Such a course suits not my 
taste, and never did. Circumstances which can- 
not be avoided divide men who are as honest the 
one as the other, and charity demands that you 
should be patient and forbearing with your erring 
brethren. I do not arrogate to myself such a 
degree of complacency as to say that I know and 
feel that I am right in the position I take to-day. 
I sometimes have misgivings as to the convictions 
of my own judgment, and well I may, when I 
see diflfering with me men of the best intellect in 
the land, and whom I know, from their antece- 
dents, to be as patriotic as I can pretend to be. 

Sir, in relation to the immediate subject under 
consideration, I had prepared, to some extent, 
(though I shall forbear to. trouble the Flouse with 
it at this time,) a succinct history of what has oc- 
curred in Kansas since it became a Territory and 
the progress of events which has marked its his- 
tory. But it is sufficient for my purpose to state 
that I am satisfied, from what I have read and 
heard, and from what I know, as well as I can 
know facts which did not transpire in my imme- 
diate presence, that the Lecompton convention 
was a body that was legally constituted, called 
by the proper authority, and lawfully convened. 

It is my judgment that they had power to 
form such a constitution as, in their wisdom, 
they might see fit; provided it did not run coun- 
ter to the obligations of the embryo State to the 
Constitution of the United States, and that it v/as 
republican in form. I am satisfied, from an in- 
spection of the constitution which they did form, 
that it contains all the elements that entitle it to 
be received as the constitution of a new State. I 
even go further, and say that its framers have 
collated with signal success and abil'ity, from the 
various State constitutions, all that I think was 
most worthy of adoption. It stands to-day, in 
my judgment, one of the best instruments of th« 
sort that it has ever been my fortune to read. In- 
trinsically, then, I say, there is nothing in it to 
complain of. Perhaps some of my friends on this 
side of the House may think that it has anti-re- 
publican features, because it establishes or toler- 
ates the institution of slavery . Despite what Gov- 
ernor Walker had said, and even though he did 
say it, under the direction, if you please, and 
sanction and approval of the President and his 
Cabinet, the convention had full power to submit 
just as much of the constitution to the people a.s 
they pleased, or to submit no part of it, if they 
so chose. 

These, I think, are sound views. The conven- 
tion has framed a constitution, and, because there 
was one great subject of excitement paramount 
to all others in the Territory, they determined to 
submit that suh modo; and that is the chief com- 
plaint. 

Sir, I am inclined to^believe that if that con- 
stitution had ignored slavery as an institution of 
the new State, there would have been no opp'i- 
sition toil. The people of the Territory had the 
opportunity to vote against the slavery clause. 
They did not avail themselves of that opportu- 



tiity, but refiispd to go to tlie polls and assert 
their rights. Their reasons for that course — 
whether advised from ouiside of the Territory or 
from within — are unknown to me. But I iiifi.r 
tliat the advice came from distant communities, 
and for purposes foreign to the interests of the 
people of the Territory themselves. Shall this 
miserable agitation which has enlisted the inter- 
est and excited the sympatjiy of tiie nation for 
years, continue to go on increasing in magnitude, 
and perhaps increasing in danger? Sir, I, for one, 
tliink it wisest to stop it where it ia. Let us take 
the instrument which they have sent us as their 
constitution, and leave tiicm to amend it as thi;y 
nuiy hereafter see fit. It seems to be the conceded 
doctrine that they can do so. It is the doctrine 
of the President. According to my opinion, they 
may, at least, change it as the constitution pro- 
vides, and in no other mode. They are bound 
by what it prescribes. If it omits to prescribe 
the method, they may alter it according to their 
own volition. And then this foul blot, this mis- 
erable stain, that now lies like an incubus on the 
community, and shocks the moral sense of the 
people of the North, will be wiped away, and 
Kansas be fitted for companionship with the sis- 
terhood of the free States. 

I, sir, as a southern man, have never looked 
for Kansas to be a .'ilave State, and have not ex- 
pected it. That was one of the reasons why I 
thought the repeal of the Missouri compromise 
was unwise and unnecessary, i thought that it 
would work out no practical advantage to the 
South, and might end in serious detriment to the 
T^nion. I am still of that opinion. I do not be- 
lieve it can ever give one foot of soil to slavery; 
I trust it may never extend freedom beyond 
where it would likely have been limited if thecom- 
jiromise had lived forever. But it has been sup- 
posed, and often spoken of, that the opposition 
arises from the desire to get possession of the Gov- 
ernment. These are speculations wliich run 
through the human mind, and you cannot get rid 
of them if you would. Perhaps it may be wise 
for politicians, when about to enact measures of 
great magnitude, to consider iheeflect which they 
may have on theirparty organization. Butstand- 
ing, as I do, — or lying, as I might more properly 
say — between the upjier and the nether millstones, 
I can feel but little interest in any movement of 
that sort. One has been grinding and crushing the 
principles which I have advocated, and the other 
but emulates it at every opportunity that presents 
itself. 1 can say to my constituents, Americans 
and Democrats, that 1 am glad to see that this 
Kansas convention has taken a step in the right 
direction. Senator Douglas has stigmatized, or 
complained of it, because the constitution con- 
tains what he is pleased -'to term " a little touch 
of Know Nothingism" — an American feature. 
Any alllrmation, from any quarter, of what we 
know i.s tlie true policy of the nation, is grateful 
to my heart. 

Now, a word of kind advice, kindly spoken, to 
ojentlemen on tiiis side of the House ! It is tliis: 
if you con tern plate the possibility of acquiring pos- 
session of this great Government, think, I beseech 



you, before you take the reins in your hands, or 
before you again aspire to contend for the eni- 
jiire, whethfr you are to go headlong in your 
career of denunciation of the South and her in- 
stitutions, and yet hope to administer this Gov- 
ernment in peace. 

Properly speaking, not one word should have 
been said in connection with this constitution, that 
involves the question of slavery. It has been 
dragged in here most improperly. It ia a thing 
that belonged exclu.?ively to the local community. 
It is wrong that the merits or demerits of the in- 
stitution should be discussed here, because they 
have nothing to do with th.e question which we 
are considering. And I, for one, as a soutliern 
man, declare that, thou2:h I stand second to none 
in my advocacy of our cherished institution, born 
as I was amongst it, as were my ancestors, all 
slaveholders; determined, as I am, to adhere to it, 
and to abide its fortunes, let them lead me where 
they may; desiring to die, when my time shall 
come in the will of Heaven, and to be buried in 
the land of my fathers, still I will not consent to 
debate the question upon this floor, because it is 
not legitimately before us. I know what my rights 
are, and shall be ready, when the time comes, if it 
ever should— which God in his mercy avert! — to 
assert them to the utmost extreme. I shall stand 
prepared to take my destiny with those who are 
indissolubly linked Aviih me. These are no idle 
enunciations. I deal not in them. They are the 
earnest convictions of my heart, and I will de- 
ceive no man. I say to the North, before you 
shall succeed to power, if you do obtain the pos- 
session of the Government, by all the glories of 
your boasted Bunker Hill; by the memories of 
your Pilgrim Fathers, whom I have never tra- 
duced, and never will; by the common blood that 
was poured out at Concord and Lexington and 
[ Saratoga, and on the battle-fields of the South, I 
I implore you to give up and abandon this idea, 
I which is suicidatto the Confederacy, of restrict- 
j ing the institution of slavery to its present limits. 
What \yould you say, in the event our country 
shall expand ? But if you have determined to go 
! on, if you have sworn in your hearts never to re- 
; lent, you may, and perhaps will, have the power; 
\ but whenever you seek to use it, the unhappy 
i day v/ill have arrived when this nation, and civil- 
\ izcd man throughout the world, will have cause 
to lament the dire calamity involved in your sua- 
cess. 

I have sometimes thought tliat I have done in- 
justice to our uortliern friends. I say it not as a 
! taunt. I have thought that they acted as politi- 
! cians merely, using an abstraction tor the purpose 
I of obtaining power, and not in their hearts cher- 
: ishing the sentiments they profess. But I have 
' Seen exhibited, in the course of this discussion, 
! unerring evidence to my mind, of a general sym- 
j pathy v/ith strong anti-slavery sentiments — ay, 
with abolition itself, and it has inspired me for the 
time with indignation and regret. I desire the pres- 
ervation of the Union. It cannot be preserved, in 
my honest opinion, unless these ultra opinions are 
surrendered upon i!ie altar of our country. In the 
midst of these various consideration.'^, the commit- 



8 



tec will ptirdoi) me for saying that I have been accus- 
tomed, in tlie clashing of the great parties of (his 
country, to look to that small, tievoletl band which 
is scattered tliroughoiUthe States of this Confeder- 
Bcv, who ]ireach peace and good-will to al! good 
men, and who appeal to all to come np with them 
in the work of reforming our Government, of cor- 
recting the abuses which have crept into it, and 
of Americanizing every institution, as the nation's 
last hope. 

Note. — The annexed copy of a letter, taken in 
connection with what is contitined in the forego- 
ing speecii, fully expresses the aiuiior's views on 
the subject of the admisainn of Kansas under the 
Lecom[)lon constitution. The words embraced in 
quotation marks are taken from the hitter of invi- 
tation, and were copied into that, approvingly, 
from the siiecial message of the President trans- 
mitting ilie constitution to Congress: 

FROM HON. JOSH'JA HILL. 

lldUSK OF Ukvueskntativkr, 
VVAsni>oTor*, March 1, lcj8. 

Dear Sir : t am in rftcoiptdriliT; iiivitaiimi of the ;i|)[iro- 
prnpi'iate coiniuitlCBS, to iiiiila with thciu in a puhiic uicet- 
iiig to be hclilat'i'ama-.iiiiy ll;ill,()ii 't'liur.-iiiiy cvi'iiing next, 
at hiiU'piist seven o'docii. I iru?t 1 nin pnipeily se..!-ihlc 
01' the honor iiiteiidtMl nie. I niosi eoriliiilly a-rrct; with the 
PresidiMU ot' iIik (Jiiitcil St<a(;s In tlie seniiuient whieli so 
justly (ienianils the approval ol' yonr as-^uciati;-;, that '• the 
p<?ace and (iiiietofthe whole conniry aieor-^ieaier import- 
ance than the mere temporary trimnph oi' either ot" the 
political parties in Kansas;" and I' even go further, and 
add, or of any political party in any State or in the United 
State.^. 

I fnrihcr give my h'-arty assent to the proposition of the 
President, that '• Kansas has, lor years, occupied too niuc-h 



of public atten 
directed to far 
opinion that it 
tnrbanec of tl 
or-ianization o 
lation, and w'n 
serviti.ive sent 
Missouri cnni(. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 088 927 5 



den, Unasked for, inie.vpected, and, 1 tear, unproriiaiiif. 
(■onplcd as it wa? with the Badger proviso, without which, 
! am well assured it could not have been rejiealed. to say 
nothing of its accompanying covert sijuatter sovereijiiiiy anil 
patent alien sutVrage, both pernieions doctrines, I regrndtd 
it as of no practical advantage to the South, and hurtful to 
the nation at large. 

I am not so well ennvinced that, " when once ndmitl'd 
into the Union, whether with or without slavery, the e,\- 
I citement beyond Inn- own limits will speedily pass away."' 
I incline to the opinion that, so soon as the too sanguine 
I people of the southern States lose all hope of Kansas be- 
eomins a slave .State, or continning one, tiicy will advert to 
I the influences whieh have disappointed Iheirhopes, and if, 
I by possibility, it should occur to them lluil the past and 
I present A(l:nini^trati(nis of the fJeneral Government have, 
til an J' manner, contrilmted to produce so unpalatable a re- 
sult, ijiey will feel and exhibit a just indignation. 
Apart from its influences upon parties, I am unable to ,n;- 
I taeli any great imporianee to the adnjissicm of Kansas. 1 
! am free to ov.'n that, if I had any well grounded hope that, 
I when admitted, it would continue a slave Stale, I slmuld 
(eel deep solicitude for its admission. If any man, from 
I any seetioii, susiains the Loeom|)toti constitution because 
he desires the admission of the new Sliite to be followed 
soon by tlie assembling of a new eotivention of her people, 
for the purpose of excludini; shivery from her syste'in. I 
frankly declare that [ have no sympathies with such sup- 
porter, and cainiot regard him as my ■' natural ally." 

Hoping that good counsels may prevail in your meeting, 
and that good may come of your ili-liberalions, I have liic 
honor to remain, with high respect, your obedient servant, 

JOSHU.V lULf.. 
Peter B. Sweeny, Esq., 

Chairman General Committee, Tammany Hal!. 



Conservation Resources 



